U.S. Congressional Delegation Seeks To Reassure Denmark And Greenland After Trump’s Threats | EUROtoday

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation on Saturday sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their help following President Donald Trump’s risk to punish international locations with tariffs in the event that they don’t again the U.S. taking on the strategic Arctic island.

Delegation chief Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, mentioned the present rhetoric round Greenland is inflicting concern throughout the Danish kingdom. He mentioned he desires to de-escalate the state of affairs.

“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” Coons mentioned in Copenhagen, including that the U.S. has respect for Denmark and NATO “for all we’ve done together.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of individuals marched by Copenhagen, lots of them carrying Greenland’s flag, on Saturday afternoon in help of the self-governing island. Others held indicators with slogans like “Make America Smart Again” and “Hands Off.” Another rally was deliberate in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital.

Coons’ feedback contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his requires a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their very own designs on Greenland, which holds huge untapped reserves of essential minerals. The White House hasn’t dominated out taking the territory by pressure.

“There are no current security threats to Greenland,” Coons mentioned.

Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. ought to management Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and mentioned earlier this week that something lower than the Arctic island being in U.S. arms can be “unacceptable.”

During an unrelated occasion on the White House about rural well being care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on prescription drugs.

“I may do that for Greenland, too,” Trump mentioned. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he mentioned.

He had not beforehand talked about utilizing tariffs to attempt to pressure the difficulty.

Earlier this week, the overseas ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

That encounter didn’t resolve the deep variations, however did produce an settlement to arrange a working group — on whose function Denmark and the White House then provided sharply diverging public views.

European leaders have insisted it’s only for Denmark and Greenland to determine on issues in regards to the territory, and Denmark mentioned this week that it was rising its army presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.

“There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark,” Coons mentioned. “If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?”

Associated Press author Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.